It appears that EMC this week released a product based on the Project Nile englishmpd mentioned: Elastic Cloud Storage, according to this story http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240220054/EMC-launches-Elastic-Cloud-Storage-ECS-with-ViPR-20

Susan, it is simply that vendors will want to offer choices - both supplying the cloud vendors on the one hand, while also having an increasing range of options so that end users (typically large scale it must be said) can enjoy similar cost and flexibility profiles to what they might get by using a public cloud. This is, if you like, the idea of a private cloud on public steroids. One specific example (drawing from the relative little that has been said so far) is the "Project Nile" from EMC, but there are many such things in the works froma variety of vendors. Dont forget that there's an intriguing business balance here: even if the "cloud-like" on prem abilities don't meet the actual price cloud providers pay, the end user may perceive it as a wash because of the impact of the CSP profit margin. Future decisions will be based far more on the preceieved relative risks of each route and the proclivity a user has to do things themselves (in other words, is IT a desirable / necessary core competency or not?).

English, those are interesting observations. I guess it is true that there could be backlash and a desire to regain control, especially if the providers aren't holding up their end of the bargain. I'm curious about these on-premises solutions designed to "out-cloud the cloud" -- would like to hear more on those.

Thanks for the comments. The reason I say that the pendulum could swing is simply because I susepct that "something" might happen to make it so. Do I know what that is...no. It could be as simple as users wanting to move off clouds (to some degree) because they start exhibiting some of the less savory aspects of sloth and change-control constraints that have caused in-house IT to lose favor. Our own research shows that complexity and price are more common obstacles for existing cloud users to increase adoption than for non-users to engage: in other words, sometimes the cloud ain't as good as the datasheets! Alternatively, many vendors are looking to provide equipment and options that "outcloud the cloud" - that is, giving similar values but on prem. And again I say that pendulums tend to swing - and so I suspect this will happen here for SOME reason. To your point I don't think it will be a 100% change, and I don't necessarily see users "buying most of the infrastructure products" but they may well reconsider the balance and/or want to find ways to retain system control while deloying utility infrastructure.

I agree that this shift is happening because IT has become so intrinsic to what each business unit does. And with SaaS, it's so easy for users to sign up for services on their own -- leaving IT out of the loop, and much to the chagrin of IT security.

I suppose you can make that analogy. But to me it is more of a shift that is actually happening because IT matters so much. As technology becomes more and more embedded into every function of business, more people are involved in decision making around it and roles change.

To some extent this hearkens back to the "IT doesn't matter" argument of Nicholas Carr from a few years ago -- that as IT becomes more of a utility that runs things, it's less necessary for it to be proprietary to a company. Shared services is the logical extension of that.

Mark, I agree that this trend is happening across the board in most organizations, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Your statement at the end of the piece intrigues me. You say that the pendulum swings back and forth and will most likely return to the previous state at some point. We've always seen that in the past, but to me, it seems like cloud is one technology shift that will remain permanent. I'm not sure that enterprises will be able to ever take on the complexity of cloud provider environments once they have progressed to cloud. Do you think the pendulum will ever swing back that way, so that enterprises are buying most of the infrastructure products?

Our latest survey shows growing demand, fixed budgets, and good reason why resellers and vendors must fight to remain relevant. One thing's for sure: The data center is poised for a wild ride, and no one wants to be left behind.